Radical comrade sounded out Tea Party member (8)
I believe the answer is:
democrat
'party member' is the definition.
(member of the Democrat Party)
'radical comrade sounded out' is the wordplay.
'radical' is an anagram indicator.
'sounded out' becomes 't' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'comrade' anagrammed gives 'democra'.
'democra'+'t'='DEMOCRAT'
'tea' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. It may be part of another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for democrat that I've seen before include "One who believes in government by the whole people" , "Advocate of government by elected representatives" , "Person who believes in government by and for the people" , "One advocates government by the people's elected representatives" , "American politician" .)